Peters Township man jailed on child pornography charges

By

Matthew Douglas Vaughan

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McMURRAY – A Peters Township man was placed in Washington County jail on $100,000 bond Monday after being charged with six counts of possession of child pornography and one count each of disseminating photos of child sex acts and criminal use of a computer.

Matthew Douglas Vaughan, 44, was charged by the state attorney general’s office and arraigned before District Judge James Ellis.

According to an affidavit filed in Ellis’ office, Vaughan, of 1039 Elizabeth Drive, McMurray, transferred files containing child pornography Feb. 9. The affidavit stated Vaughan used at least two Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses Feb. 9, and an additional one a number of times Feb. 7 and 8.

Vaughan once lived at 437 Euclid Ave., Canonsburg, but when officers arrived at the residence Monday, they were told Vaughan had lived there but moved out about one month ago to live at his parents’ house in McMurray, according to the affidavit. Vaughan was picked up by officers at work and returned to his residence on Elizabeth Drive, where he reportedly agreed to a search of his laptop. The affidavit stated a forensic examiner uncovered apparent child pornography media files on the computer.

Vaughan was taken to the Peters Township police station, where he was interviewed and, according to the criminal complaint, admitted to loading and sharing child pornography videos and images for about the past 18 months. The images were of boys between the ages of 10 and 12.

Vaughan told officers he deleted some images “because he knew it was wrong to have them,” according to the complaint.